collendee



(No Model.)l

2 Sheets-Sheet 1. .-H. W. COLLENDBR.

P001. RACK.

N. Pneus, Pnabumogmpmr, whingwn. DJ;

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

,EL-w. 'G0L'Lm-DERi POOLRAGK.

l Patented A'r. 8, 1884.

a m. l ...l

(No Moa-e1.)

nireV rares HUGH XV. COLLENDER, OF NEWT YORK, N. Y.

POOL-RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,532, dated April 8, 1884.

Application filed February 13, 1884. (No modclj to more fully describe the latter, referring by 5o useful improvements in that kind of pool-racks which are adapted to discharge the contents .of all the shelves rapidly and automatically into the tray, triangle, or other receptacle in which the gameheeper carries the collected balls from the locality of the pooi-rack to the table upon which they are to loe placed for the game. Heretofore various contrivances of the type alluded to have been devised, in some of which the halls have been discharged from the series of shelves by inclining them and permitting the balls to run down through a raceway or through chutes, and in others of which the balls have been supported upon projecting pins, from which they have been lifted and discharged by the action of a triangle or tray provided with fingers and adapted to be moved up over the face or front of the pool-raclc by the person holding said triangle.

My present invention consists, essentially, in a rack provided with supporting shelves or surfaces adapted to tip upwardly and forwardly at their rearmost edges, so as to throw the balls out, and provided with an ascending device, which, when lifted up, operates to tip the shelves successively, and which also serves to carry any suitable triangle or other receptacle into which the balls are collected, and to properly deflect the balls into said receptacle, all as will he hereinafter more fully set forth; and my invention further consists in certain details of construction, which, in like manner, will be hereinafter more fully explained, and which will be more particularly pointed out in the claims of this specication.

To enable those skilled lin the art to make and use a contriva-nce embracing one or more of the features of my invention, I will now proceed letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specication, and in which I have represented a pool-rack apparatus in which my invention is carried out in that forni in which I have so far practiced it.

lIn the drawings, Figure l isa front elevatin of my improved contrivance. Fig. 2 is an edge or side view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section at the line x .fr of Fig. 1. Fig. 4l is a horizontal section at the line y y of Fig. l, and Fig. 5 is a detail view or partial vertical section at the line e of Fig. 2.

In the several ngures the same parts will he found designated by the saine letter of reference. i

As clearly illust-rated, the rack proper is composed, simply, of two side pieces, A and B, a base-piece, C, a cap or top piece, D, and

a back board, E, together with a series of hor- Zontal shelves, F, arranged between the side pieces A B, as shown, and pivoted to the outer faces of said side pieces and supported by bracket-like stops or projections a, which are arranged on the inner faces of the side pieces A B. Each of the shelves F is pivoted at each end and near its front edge to the said side pieces of the rack, and is formed with a longitudinal depression or groove, b, in its upper surface, in which rest the balls placed upon the shelf, and in the vicinity of each end of each shelf is arranged, on the inner faces of the side pieces A B, stop-pins c, the ofiice of which will be presently explained.

Gr is a sliding or vertically-nioving carriage, the side pieces G of which engage with the outer surfaces of the sides AB of the rack by means of vertical grooves e in the latter and andl projecting feathers f on the former, that engage With each other, as shown. Each of the sides A B of the rack has through it, near its middle, a vertical slot, II, which comes about in line with the rearmost corners of the ball-supporting shelves F, and the side pieces G of the vertically-moving carriage are provided, as shown, with angle-levers I, the inner ends of the horizontal portions of which proj ect sli ghtlybeyond the internal fac-cs ofthe side pieces A and B. These inwardly-projecting iosuitable springs, which permit the proper amount of play or swing to the levers and return them always to their normal positions.`

The carriage G is provided, as shown, withinwardly-projecting guards J, arranged at each end, and with a deflecting-surface, K, which is preferably padded or cloth-covered, and which, together with the inner or back surface of the guards J, operates to receive balls discharged successively from the shelves F, and 2o to guide or deflect the balls into any suitable receptacle which may be applied to the carriage G, which latter, as shown, is made with a sort of rectangular recess below the deflector K and between the fenders or guards J, adapt- 2 5 ed to receive the front or forward portion of a suitable and, preferably, rectangular receptacle intended to be applied to the carriage and adapted to receive the balls discharged.

from the rack. 3o The stop-pins o, which, as shown, are preferably arranged at both ends of the tilting or tipping shelves, are merely to prevent the shelf from being thrown over so far in discharging the balls that they might not return to their normal positions by gravity, and might, if suddenly tipped, throw the balls outward and forward with too much impetus. In the operation of the contrivance so far described, and shown in the drawings, it will 4o be understood that when it is desired to collect all the balls which may have been placed upon the shelves F the game-kceper simply first applies to the carriage G his tray or re ceptacle, and then, taking hold of said carriage, 4 5 slides it, together with the combined receptacle, upwardly to a sufficient extent to pass the uppermost shelf on which any balls may have been stored, and that during the ascent of said carriage the inwardly-projecting ends of the 5o angle-levers I will in succession strike vand lift the rear edges of the shelves in such manner as to successively discharge the contents of said shelves over their front edges, and in such manner that the balls falling from the shelves will roll onto a rle'llector or padded receivingsurface, K, and will from thence descend a very short distance into the receptacle or tray, the forward portion of which (as already explained) has been placed by the game-keeper 6o beneath the said defiector K. During the descent thus of the balls from the shelves onto the surface K, and thence into the ball receptacle or tray, the balls which may pass off near either end of a shelf will be prevented from tumbling outside of the receptacle, and

will be guided or deected toward the center of the latter by the inner or back surfaces of the guards or'fenders J, and as the deiiecting and receiving surface K slopes upwardly at each end, (and in rear of the fenders,) this guid- 7o ance of the balls toward the middle of the receptacle will thereby be still further insured. After the ascent of the carriage G to the proper extent, and the collection of all the balls in the tray placedon said carriage, the latter is simply pulled down or allowed to descend to its former position, when the gamekeeper removes his receptacle or tray and replaces the balls upon the table as usual, and the pool-rack is ready for reuse. 8o

Ofcourse, the conformation ofthe receiving, guiding, and deflecting surfaces of the sliding carriage, which is adapted to support or contain, temporarily, the tray into which the balls are to be collected, maybe varied more or less, 8 5 according to circumstances, and to correspond with the size, shape, and character of the receptacle or tray which may be preferably used, and other variations in the details of construction may be made without departing 9o from the essential features of my invention. Some other sort oflifting-fingers might be employed, and as to the lifting or shelf-tipping devices, as well as the stops for regulating the extent of motion of the shelves, one set of such devices, instead of two, might of course be employed.. I do not therefore wish to restrict -my claims of invention to the precise details of construction herein shown and described, and I wish it to be understood, of foo course, that the main feature of my invention might be employed with more or less advantage in a eontrivance not involving the other features of my alleged improvements.

Vhat I claim as new herein, and desire io secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with a pool-rack or set lof shelves adapted to receive the players7 balls, and from which the balls may be successively discharged orthrown out, a carriage- I 1o like device adapted to slide up and down in front of the rack, and provided with means for guiding the contents ofthel shelves as successively discharged, and a suitable receptacle adapted to be placed within said carriage I I 5 and receive the contents of the pool-rack, all substantially asset forth. A

2. In combination with the side pieces, A B, of a pool-rack, a set of hinged or pivoted shelves adapted to tip upwardly and forwardly I 2o at their rearmost edges, and suitable means for successively tipping said shelves so as to discharge their contents in succession, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with a set of hinged or pivoted shelves adapted to tip upwardly and forwardly at their rearmost edges, suitable stops to prevent said shelves from turning too far, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth. 13o

el. In ACombination with a pool-rack capable Ward its middle, to insure their proper recepof discharging the contents of its ball-supporttion Within any suitable receptacle carried by ing surfaces automatically, a carriage adapted the said carriage, all substantially es set forth. 1o

to receive the discharged contents of the vH. COLLENDER. 5 shelves, substantially as described, the said iVitnesses: f

carriage being provided with means, as set JACOB FELBEL,

forth, for defleeting and guiding the balls to L. F. SILVA. 

